Britain will play a leading role in constructing and operating the world’s
biggest telescope, which will be built in the Chilean Andes, after a
government decision to commit £88m to the project.

The giant observatory, known as the European Extremely Large Telescope
(E-ELT), will cost more than £900 million. The telescope’s “eye”, its
primary mirror, will be 40m in diameter and will gather 15 times more light
than the largest optical telescopes operating today.

Based high in the Chilean Atacama desert, the super-telescope will allow
astronomers to study the first stars and galaxies that formed after the Big
Bang 13.7